Who's In Charge here?

This morning, Wallace, our beautiful brown spotted Bengal boy did something pretty darn sneaky.

BACKSTORY: Jim and I have two alarms. Jim gets up at 5:50 and I get up around 6:05. So Jim takes the first shift of feeding the cats in the morning.

Now over the last six weeks, Wallace and Grommette have come to learn that incessant meowing does not wake up Holly and Jim. At least not to the extent that they will get out of bed and feed the cats. They must wait for the alarm clock.

When the alarm goes off, Wallace goes off too! He will jump on the bed and meow and do his little Bengal "Yowl", chattering up a storm until somebody gets out of bed and feeds him. Grommette is a smart little Bengal girl. She just lets Wallace do all the work and reserves her high-pitched "Mews" for when she really want our attention.

Even with the routine, the cats can be very accommodating. I'd say that 4 out of 7 days a week, Wallace doesn't make a peep until he hears the alarm, even when we set it later on the weekends. 4 our of 7 days of predictable behavior is pretty good for a cat, let alone two of them. Ask any cat owner you know....

NOW BACK TO THIS MORNING:

Jim and I set one alarm for 6AM because there was no need for him to be up at his regular time of 5:50AM.

This was not to Wallace's liking so at 5:51AM, we heard a sound we had never heard before ....

SOMEBODY was shaking the bedroom blinds.

Jim and I looked at each other, raised our sleepy heads and look toward the window to see Wallace with one paw on the blinds, rattling away and looking at us. Of course as soon as he saw the whites of our eyes, the "Feed Me" chatter began in earnest and let go of the blind and hopped on the bed, bouncing from Jim to me to Grommette (who was also sleeping in) until all of us began to move.

So exactly who is training who?